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11 city guides · Asia

Cities in India (11)

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Agra

Agra is a city of 1.7 million people in Uttar Pradesh, India, whose entire identity is subsumed by the Taj Mahal — and rightly so. The Taj (1632–1653, commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth; 20,000 workers, 22 years, 28 types of precious and semi-precious stone inlaid into white Makrana marble) is the most photographed building on earth and the only monument that consistently exceeds expectations. But Agra has depth beyond the Taj: Agra Fort (UNESCO, 1573 — a sandstone fortress the size of a small city, from whose Musamman Burj tower Shah Jahan spent his final eight years imprisoned, gazing across the river at his wife's tomb), and the Baby Taj (Itimad-ud-Daulah, 1628 — a smaller mausoleum with the most intricate pietra dura stonework in India). The city is best visited November–February (cool, clear). Sunrise at the Taj is transcendent; sunset at Mehtab Bagh garden across the river is when tourists are gone.

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Bangalore

Bengaluru (Bangalore — the capital of Karnataka state and the third largest city in India, population 12.5 million in the city, 13.2 million in the urban agglomeration) is the technology capital of India and one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Often called the "Silicon Valley of India" (Bengaluru hosts the Indian operations of virtually every major technology company in the world: Infosys (founded here in 1981), Wipro, Biocon, as well as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Intel and 400+ startups)), Bangalore is also the city with the most pleasant climate in India (altitude 920m above sea level on the Deccan Plateau gives it a year-round spring climate: average temperature 20–28°C with no extreme heat even in summer — the reason the British East India Company chose Bangalore as its garrison city, as the climate was "tolerably European"). The city's history predates the tech boom by centuries: the Mysore Maharajas' palace complex (Bangalore Palace — a Tudor-Gothic extravaganza), the Lalbagh Botanical Garden (established by Hyder Ali in 1760, now with the largest collection of tropical plants in Asia), the Vidhana Soudha (the state legislature — the most grandiose government building in independent India, built 1956 in "neo-Dravidian" style). Bangalore is also the craft beer capital of India (the first microbreweries in India opened in Bangalore in the 2000s), the center of South Indian filter coffee culture, and the home of the idli-vada-sambhar-chutney breakfast tradition that is Bengaluru's morning ritual.

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Chennai

Chennai (population 7.1 million city, 10.9 million metropolitan area — the most important city in South India and the fourth-largest city in India) is the capital of Tamil Nadu and the cultural, economic and political capital of Dravidian (South Indian) civilization — the most distinct regional civilization in India. Formerly known as Madras (until 1996 — the name change from Madras to Chennai was the most symbolically important administrative rename in post-colonial India: the restoration of the original Tamil name "Chennapattinam" (the "Pattinam" (the old Tamil word for "city") of "Chennai Kesava Perumal" (the Vishnu temple lord of the original settlement))), Chennai is the most important centre of classical South Indian music (the Carnatic music tradition — the most technically demanding classical music in India), Bharatanatyam dance (the most ancient classical dance form in India, codified in the Natya Shastra (the most important text on performing arts in the ancient world)), Tamil language (one of the world's oldest surviving languages with the most extensive classical literary tradition (the "Sangam" literature: the most ancient secular literary tradition in Asia south of China)) and the most important automobile manufacturing industry in India (the "Detroit of Asia").

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Delhi

Delhi (दिल्ली — both the city of New Delhi (the colonial-era capital, designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker (1911–1931)) and the National Capital Territory of Delhi (33 million people, the largest urban area in India and the second largest in the world after Tokyo)) is the most historically layered city in Asia: the site of eight successive capitals of the Indian subcontinent, from the Tomara Rajput city of the 8th century through the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) and the British Raj (1858–1947) — each leaving monuments that still stand: Qutb Minar (the tallest brick minaret in the world (72.5m), 1193 AD), Humayun's Tomb (the first garden tomb in the Mughal tradition, 1572 AD — the design that inspired the Taj Mahal), the Red Fort (Lal Qila — the Mughal palace complex built by Shah Jahan in 1648), India Gate (the war memorial of 1931 by Lutyens) and the Parliament of India. Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad — the walled city built by Shah Jahan in 1648, still densely inhabited with the same street pattern) is the most intense and overwhelming urban environment in the world: the Chandni Chowk (the silver bazaar, once the most extravagant market in all of Asia), the Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India), and the spice market of Khari Baoli (the largest spice market in Asia) in a single square kilometer.

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Hyderabad

Hyderabad is the capital of Telangana state and the largest city on the Deccan Plateau — 10.5 million people in a city that was the seat of the Asaf Jah dynasty (the Nizams of Hyderabad, 1724–1948), the rulers of the wealthiest princely state in British India and, in the early 20th century, the wealthiest individuals on earth (Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan is still cited by Forbes as the wealthiest person in history at peak wealth). The city reflects this extraordinary accumulation: the Charminar (1591, a four-minaret archway commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah to mark the end of a plague epidemic — the most photographed building in Hyderabad), the Golconda Fort (a Qutb Shahi hilltop fortress with a sophisticated acoustic system (a clap at the Fateh Darwaza (Victory Gate) at the base is audible at the Bala Hisar pavilion 91m above), the Salar Jung Museum (a collection of 43,000 objects amassed by Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Prime Minister to the last three Nizams, making it one of the largest one-person collections in the world), and the Hyderabadi dum biryani (the most celebrated biryani in India — mutton or chicken marinated in spiced yogurt, layered with partially cooked basmati rice, sealed and slow-cooked over a low flame in a sealed pot (dum — 'breathing') until the flavours meld; the defining dish of the city). Best months: October–February (the Deccan winter, 18–28°C, the best weather for the fort and outdoor sites).

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Jaipur

Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan — a city of 3.5 million people on the Thar Desert edge, founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II (one of the most scientifically and architecturally accomplished rulers in Indian history, who also founded similar observatories in Delhi, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Mathura). Jaipur is the only city in South Asia founded on the principles of Vastu Shastra (the ancient Hindu system of spatial geometry, dividing the city into nine rectangular blocks (chowkris) and orienting it to the cardinal directions). In 1876, Maharaja Ram Singh II ordered the entire old city painted pink (the colour of hospitality in Rajput tradition) for the visit of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) — the city has been 'the Pink City' ever since, its buildings maintained in a distinctive pink sandstone and pink paint under a municipal law. The city is part of the Golden Triangle tourist circuit (Delhi–Agra–Jaipur — the most visited trio of cities in India). Its greatest monuments: Amber Fort (a massive hilltop Rajput fortress on a ridge above Maota Lake, with a magnificent Mirror Hall), the Hawa Mahal (the Palace of Winds — a five-storey, 953-window pink sandstone screen facade built for the royal women to watch street processions), and Jantar Mantar (UNESCO — the astronomical observatory of Jai Singh II, with 19 stone instruments including a 27m sundial accurate to 2 seconds). Best months: October–February.

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Kolkata

Kolkata (কলকাতা — formerly Calcutta, the official name until 2001) is the capital of West Bengal and the cultural capital of India — 4.5 million people in the city proper (15 million in the metropolitan area), on the east bank of the Hooghly River (a distributary of the Ganges), 180km from the Bay of Bengal. Kolkata was the capital of British India from 1772 to 1911 (when the capital was moved to Delhi) — the administrative and commercial centre of the largest colonial empire in history — and the resulting colonial architecture (Writers' Building, Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral) is among the finest examples of Indo-European architectural heritage in the world. The Victoria Memorial (completed 1921, white Makrana marble, combining Mughal, Venetian, and Classical elements) is the finest single building of the British Empire. Kolkata is the city of Rabindranath Tagore (the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913 — a Bengali poet, novelist, composer, and philosopher who composed the national anthems of both India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Shonar Bangla)); of Mother Teresa (who served the destitute of Kolkata for 45 years and founded the Missionaries of Charity here); and of the world's finest Bengali cuisine (hilsa fish curry, mishti doi, rasgulla (invented in Kolkata in 1866)). The Yellow Ambassador taxis and the last operational hand-pulled rickshaws (tana-rickshaw) give Kolkata a living connection to its Dickensian past. Best months: October–March.

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Lucknow

Lucknow (population 3.6 million in the city, 4.6 million in the metropolitan area) is the capital of Uttar Pradesh — India's most populous state (240 million people) — and one of the most culturally refined cities in South Asia: the former capital of the Nawabs of Awadh (Oudh), the most sophisticated court culture of 18th and 19th-century India. The Nawabate of Awadh (1722–1856) was established by the Persian immigrant Saadat Ali Khan (a noble of the Mughal court) who was appointed Subedar (governor) of Awadh and founded a dynasty that would preside over the most refined and wealthy court in India after the Mughal Empire's decline: the Nawabs of Awadh were patrons of the finest expressions of Hindustani classical music (thumri — the lyrical semi-classical song form; dadra; ghazal), dance (Kathak — the northern Indian classical dance form that reached its highest development at the Lucknow court under the patronage of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (r. 1847–1856)), architecture (the Indo-Saracenic style of the imambaras and the Residency), cuisine (Awadhi cuisine — the most refined cooking tradition in North India: the dum pukht technique, the korma, the biryani of Lucknow), and the Urdu literary tradition (the Lucknow school of Urdu poetry). The Siege of Lucknow (1857 — the Indian Mutiny / First War of Independence: the British Residency was besieged for 87 days (June–November 1857) by Indian sepoys and Awadhi fighters; the Residency ruins are preserved as a memorial). Best months: October–March.

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Madurai

Madurai (population 1.5 million in the city; 3.5 million in the metropolitan area) is the second-largest city in Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world — a city that has been occupied and culturally active for at least 2,500 years (the earliest written references to Madurai date from the 3rd century BCE). Madurai is the cultural capital of Tamil civilisation: the home of the Tamil Sangam literary tradition (the 'Three Sangams' or Academies of Tamil literature — the ancient Tamil literary academies that are believed to have produced and compiled the 'Sangam literature': the oldest secular literature in any Indian language (the earliest Sangam poems are dated to approximately 300 BCE–300 CE), including the Tolkappiyam (the oldest surviving Tamil grammar, c. 100 BCE)), and the heartland of the Dravidian Bhakti devotional movement that profoundly influenced all Indian philosophy and religion. The Meenakshi Amman Temple (the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple) is the central monument of Madurai and one of the most extraordinary sacred spaces in the world: a living temple complex that has been in continuous active worship for over 2,000 years (the temple receives approximately 15,000–20,000 devotees daily; the temple employs over 1,000 priests and staff); the Gopurams (the temple towers — 14 towers, the tallest of which is 51m high, covered from base to peak with thousands of polychrome stucco sculptures of deities, mythological beings, and epic scenes). Best months: October–March.

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Mumbai

Mumbai (formerly Bombay — renamed in 1995 by the Shiv Sena government, restoring the Marathi name derived from Mumba Devi, the patron goddess of the Koli fishing community who were the original inhabitants of the seven islands that were joined by the British into one landmass by 1784) is the financial and commercial capital of India (contributing 25% of India's corporate tax revenue and 70% of the capital transactions), the home of Bollywood (the world's most prolific film industry — over 1,000 films per year, making Mumbai the Hollywood of the entire non-English-speaking world) and a city of extraordinary and brutal contrasts: the Art Deco and Victorian Gothic buildings of the British colonial period (UNESCO — the finest collection of Victorian Gothic architecture outside Britain, with the Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) the most architecturally elaborate railway station in the world) exist alongside Dharavi (one of the largest urban slums in Asia, a functioning economy of 1 million people producing leather goods and recycling plastic) and the Malabar Hill mansions of billionaires. Mumbai's food is the most distinct of any Indian city: the vada pav (the potato dumpling in a bread roll with garlic chutney — the most popular street food in India), the bhel puri (the puffed rice, sev and tamarind chutney mixture), the pav bhaji (the spiced vegetable mash with butter-soaked rolls) and the extraordinary seafood of the coastal Koli and Malvani cuisine.

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Surat

Surat is the fourth-largest city in India (population 6.5 million, growing faster than any other Indian city of its size) on the Tapi River estuary 20 km from the Arabian Sea in the state of Gujarat — the diamond polishing capital of the world (approximately 90% of the world's rough diamonds are cut and polished in Surat, covering an estimated 14 out of every 15 diamonds in engagement rings sold in the United States, generating an annual turnover of $14 billion) and the textile hub of India (the "Silk City" — Surat produces more than 30% of India's synthetic fabric, 40% of the country's embroidered fabric, and supplies the raw material for a significant fraction of the Indian fashion and Bollywood costume industry). The city's global trade history stretches back further than the diamond business: Surat was the principal port of the Mughal Empire (1572-1707) and the most cosmopolitan commercial city of medieval Asia — a port where English, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Armenian merchants had permanent trading establishments competing for access to the Mughal imperial court. The English East India Company established its first factory (trading post) in India in Surat in 1608 (Captain William Hawkins arrived to seek trading rights from Emperor Jahangir; the first English-Mughal audience at the Agra court was 1609), making Surat the founding location of British involvement in the Indian subcontinent and the precursor to the entire British Raj. The city was sacked twice by the Maratha leader Shivaji (1664 and 1670), the raids that made Shivaji a legend of Maratha resistance to the Mughal empire and provided the wealth that funded the founding of the Maratha Empire. The food of Surat (Surati cuisine) is the most distinctive in Gujarat: the locho (the Surat-unique steamed fermented chickpea flour snack, similar to dhokla but softer and served hot with sev, onion and garlic chutney — invented in Surat), the ponk (young green jowar (sorghum) sautéed with spices, available only October-January), and the undhiyu (the Gujarati winter mixed vegetable curry cooked upside-down underground — the Surat version with the fenugreek seeds and the fresh coconut is the definitive preparation).

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